A Well-Oiled Machine

Well, it's Thursday morning and I'm proud to say that we have quite the routine down that is getting us through the days very well! The kids are LOVING serving others and it is just so cool to watch them interact with the people at our sites as well as connect with the other YouthWorks kids. Today is our last day at our work sites and then tonight we are having a celebration at one of the beaches on Lake Michigan. I can't believe our time here is almost over, but I am convinced that the kids and leaders are going to go back changed a little. We continue to have some really great conversations that I know wouldn't have happened outside of this setting. Here are some pics of the last few days.

Matt handing out juice

The boys at the nursing home

Girls washing dishes after serving breakfast

Britt washing down some tables

Heading to the showers after a day of work

Once we got to the showers I sat down for literally two minutes and proceeded to fall asleep...the girls took full advantage of the photo op.

Matt singing in the variety show to benefit a family that had recently lost their husband/dad.

This is my reaction to Brandon taking down a boiled beet and saying it was "awesome"...5 minutes later he ate a bunch of squash...crazy!

The girls helping with food

Aaron handing out bread at the soup kitchen

More of Him, Less of me

We made it to Milwaukee Sunday night and after one full day diving into the YouthWorks! mission experience, we are all loving it! It took us until about mid-day yesterday to get our bearings and adjust to a brand new experience, but we are all doing great and having an awesome time. AND, for the parents reading this...we're getting plenty of sleep (I heard a rumor that the boys had not one, but two naps yesterday)! Yesterday we were assigned to two different sites - the boys are helping out at a nursing home and the girls are helping out at a day camp for people with disabilities...the really cool thing about the camp is that it serves people of all ages, so we got to work with some kids that were 8-12 years old and the girls were really great at it! The best part of yesterday, I think, was a prayer drive that we got to go on through some different areas of Milwaukee. As we were driving, we were able to talk about poverty...what looks different about this neighborhood from yours, what is segregation, etc. At one point we stopped at a Youth Center and got to hear more about those things and then pray for the city of Milwaukee and all of the sites we are at this week...it was really a cool experience for our kids and we had some great conversation about some things that we as a group hadn't really talked about before. After that we got to stop at a cute custard shop and then it was back to the church for club and heading off to bed! We are looking forward to another full, exciting day today, but for now here are some pictures from yesterday (I don't have any of the boys yet because we were split up...hopefully by next post we can get the guys to take some pictures).

Eating some delicious food at my parents house before heading to Milwaukee

Molly and Brit painting with our new friend Madison

Jess and Elise playing a board game...for a very long time:)

Like I said before, we're all really excited to be here serving!